The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Passiflora commonly known as Passion Flower or Passion Vine that is grown for use as an ornamental plant for planting in gardens and in the landscape. Plants of Passiflora may also be trained for use as container grown plants. The new variety is known botanically as Passiflora caerulea, and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘Snow Queen’.
‘Snow Queen’ resulted from a formal breeding program that was established by the inventor in 2002 in Surbiton, Surrey, United Kingdom. The inventor has made close study of the genus Passiflora and has bred several varieties with improved garden performance, including improved hardiness and vigor combined with larger flower size, longer-lasting flowers and unique color combinations of petals, sepals and corona.
‘Snow Queen’ is the result of the inventor's deliberate pollination of Passiflora ‘White Wedding’ (unpatented), as the female parent with the male parent, an un-named and un-released seedling of the species Passiflora caerulea which the inventor had raised and retained from previous breeding. The inventor chose the female parent for its presumed polyploid characteristics and chose the male parent for its extra hardiness since it alone had survived outside through a hard winter.
From the seedlings arising from the pollination as described, the inventor selected ‘Snow Queen’ in 2011 for the purity of its large white flowers which exhibit long-lasting qualities and for the vigor and hardiness of the plants themselves. Based on his experience and expertise in the genus and its cultivars, the inventor considers that ‘Snow Queen’ is very likely to be a triploid variety.
The first asexual propagation of ‘Snow Queen’ was accomplished by the inventor in 2011 in the inventor's garden in Surbiton, Surrey, United Kingdom. The method of propagation was rooting of soft and semi-hard stem cuttings. The inventor has observed through repeated propagations of ‘Snow Queen’ that ‘Snow Queen’ is stable and reproduces true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation via rooting of soft and semi-hard stem cuttings.